NZ woman refused refund over mould at Taupo’s Barcelona Motel

A woman has demanded a refund from a NZ hotel after she filmed mould, bed stains and other “gross” conditions – but the hotel doesn’t believe her.

A New Zealand mum has taken her campaign for a refund online after being rebuffed by the management of a motel she labelled “gross” and “filthy”.

Karen Nicol shared video of her room at the Barcelona Motel in the North Island town of Taupō, which showed visible mould and dirt, a hole letting a cold draught in and badly stained bed linen.

The video sees an irate Ms Nicol take viewers on a tour of the room, armed with a white cloth which is quickly fouled by grime as she wipes it across surfaces.

She also complained about the “gross” smell of the room, the cold temperature, and the noise of the heater which she says she was forced to run all night.

A gap in the room’s front door let a draught through. Picture: Karen Nicol

Ms Nicol’s video shows stains on the bedding. Picture: Karen Nicol

Ms Nicol told Newshub that she paid $NZ288 ($A272) for a one-night stay for her and her son on July 16.

She said she did not want to stay in the room after being “overwhelmed” by the smell and distressed by its condition.

When she asked a staff member for a refund, she was refused.

“She (the staffer) pretty much laughed at me and said, ‘Nope, no refund’,” Ms Nicol told Newshub.

“I said, ‘Okay, you’re putting me in a position where I don’t have a choice’ – I couldn’t afford to pay for two motels – so I said, ‘I’m going to take this further.’”

“She just didn’t give a sh*t. ‘No, you’re not getting your money back’ – real attitude, really rude.

“I think we had a right to ask for our money back. I asked more than three times.”

After realising that she could not afford another motel and would have to stay in the room, Ms Nicol recorded the video.

She suffered through a night curled on the floor with her own blanket because of the condition of the bed, which she told Newshub was “wet to the touch”.

“It was really, really cold and yuck. We had the heater on all night, on high. It was really noisy, so we had one of two choices – turn the heater off and freeze, or leave the heater on and stay awake,” Ms Nicol said.

“We couldn’t have coffee or anything like that because it was just too dirty. We didn’t want to use anything.”

She took her concerns to the Taupō District Council, but Ms Nicol claims they told her there were “no health and safety issues”.

What appears to be mould on the shower curtain. Picture: Karen Nicol

Stains on the side of the mattress. Picture: Karen Nicol

Taupō District Council chief executive Gareth Green told Newshub that when a council inspector visited, the rooms had “received a deep clean and had been aired”.

He also said the council would be supporting the motel’s management in identifying “the kinds of things that need to be addressed in cleaning the rooms”.

In response to questions from Newshub, a staff member at the Barcelona Motel claimed that the mess seen in the video had been made by Ms Nicol herself.

“The lady came, she was in the room for four hours, and then she went to reception to try and get half-price. They stayed the night and in the morning they did this video. The room she showed online is the room she created, so this is falsified information. The council has inspected the room, and the council has no problem with it,” he said.

Armed with a white cloth, Karen Nicol exposed the grime. Picture: Karen Nicol

He said the stains on the bed could have been caused by someone spilling a drink and further claimed that the motel’s guests often dirtied their own rooms.

“The customers do make a mess and we do take pictures from now on to show people that the customers leave these kinds of messes in the rooms,” he said.

Ms Nicol doesn’t think she’ll see her refund, but reportedly wants make sure others are forewarned and said that the whole issue could have been resolved much sooner.

“If I had my refund, this would have never happened,” she said.

This article originally appeared on the NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission